DHARAMSHALA, 14 March: The 3rd session of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile began today with extensive deliberation on the critical situation in Tibet as one of the main agenda in view of the series of tragic self-immolations of Tibetans.

In his opening address, Speaker Penpa Tsering said the critical situation prevailing inside Tibet is one of the darkest phase in the history of Tibet, and the Tibetan Parliament would duly deliberate on it to mitigate the sufferings of our people in Tibet.

Opening Speech by Speaker Penpa Tsering

The Speaker apprised the House about the tragic self-immolations incidents in Tibet and the indiscriminate firing of peaceful demonstrators by the Chinese security forces.

“As a mark of our strong support and solidarity with the Tibetans inside Tibet, and urgent appeal to the international community, the parliament members are wearing a black arm band emblazoned with “Save Tibet” in this session, the Speaker said.

The Speaker said the whole day of the inaugural session would be devoted to extensive discussion on the current situation in Tibet.

The House unanimously passed a resolution to show solidarity with the Tibetans sufferings under the occupation of the Chinese government.

The resolution urged the Chinese leadership to immediately end its repressive policies on the Tibetan people, and to ensure the implementation of the Regional National Autonomy in Tibet as enshrined in the Chinese constitution.

The dialogue between the Chinese government and the Tibetan side must be immediately started to facilitate the implementation of Regional National Autonomy in Tibet, the resolution said.

It stressed on the opening of Tibet to an unbiased international fact-finding delegation and also a fact-finding delegation from the Central Tibetan Administration. Similarly, the international media, representatives of organisations, and tourists be given unfettered access to the Tibetan areas.

It urged the Chinese government to immediately stop the so-called development projects in Tibet, policies of forced resettlement of Tibetan nomads and Chinese population transfer to Tibet, which are aimed towards annihilation of Tibetan identity and Tibet’s environment. The Chinese government must end its wrong policies which cause resentment to the Tibetan people, and work towards ensuring short-and long-term benefits and rights for Tibetans, it added.

The Chinese government must immediately release all the Tibetan political prisoners including the Panchen Lama, and build trust between the government and the people as done by the Burmese government.

We strongly appeal to the world leaders to earnestly take effective responsibility to let the Chinese leadership know the reality of the Tibet issue, and address the Tibetan people’s grievances and save their lives.

We deeply thank the governments around the world who has until now shown their concern on the critical situation in Tibet, expressed solidarity with the Tibetan people and passed resolution in their parliaments. Similarly, we deeply thank the Tibet Support Groups, the non-governmental organisations, and Chinese organisations for democracy, and individuals supporting truth and justice, who have expressed their support organising numerous peaceful movements, the resolution said.

Nevertheless, we appeal for your stronger and continuous support to the resolve of issue of Tibet in general, and the prevailing crisis and problems in Tibet in particular. Moreover, we reiterate our appeal to the United Nations to send a fact-finding delegation to assess the dire situation in Tibet, it said.

The parliament will approve budget of the Central Tibetan Administration for the year 2012-13 during this session. The session will go on till 24 March.